1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a radio handset for browsing the Internet. It particularly relates to increasing the functionality of such a handset.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Mobile phones are becoming widely used as they provide security, mobility and flexibility. Recently the popularity of the Internet has increased among the general population. The Internet can be browsed using a so-called browser application, which provides an easily usable visual interface. It would be particularly desirable to combine the hand held nature of a mobile phone and its associated portability with the ability to browse the Internet. The wireless application protocol (WAP) has been developed with this purpose in mind. It allows a radio handset to communicate with a transceiver at an internet gateway and accesses the internet through a radio link.
A desktop computer or the like, has until now been the standard device for accessing the World Wide Web. The computer generally has a display, a cursor control and selecting device such as a mouse and a keyboard. When using a device to browse the World Wide Web, the device exchanges information with the Internet gateway. The device acts as a client and the Internet as a server. Typically content is downloaded from the internet to the device to allow a browser application in the device to display one page having a number of items or icons which are ‘active’. Choosing and selecting an item or icon using the cursor control and selection device creates a ‘link’ to another defined page. The browser application requests this page from the Internet acting as server. Information downloaded from the Internet to the device allows the browser application to display the page, which has been linked. The browser application mediates between the user and the Internet. It sends requests to the Internet and receives content therefrom.
The content received from the Internet may be instructions allowing the browser application to recreate a page with the correct links. It may, however, be content which cannot be processed by the browser application but which requires a separate different application such as a viewer, an audio application, etc. Typically these separate applications are not integrated with the browser but are separate. A small device such as a radio handset can only register a limited number of such applications at any one time. The browser application routes received instructions to the appropriate application if registered.